Richard Mann kicked off The Hundred with two winners from two bets, and has a strong fancy when Manchester Originals welcome Southern Brave on Wednesday evening.

Night one of The Hundred yielded two winners from two bets, with another low-scoring affair hardly setting pulses racing. The anti-Hundred protestors were quickly back on the X picket lines last night.

Low scores were a running theme of last year, though a closer look at the action from Lord’s would suggest London Spirit’s 80 all out was more down to poor batting and a one-paced pitch than extravagant sideways movement to the levels we saw in this tournament last season.

It’s still early days, of course, but for now, I’m happy to side with the top order, if a strong case can be made, so JAMES VINCE has to be backed to be TOP SOUTHERN BRAVE BATSMAN for Wednesday’s visit to Manchester Originals.

Vince was the outstanding batsman in this competition last season, finishing as the overall leading runscorer with 424 runs at 53.00.

The elegant right-hander no longer plays First-Class cricket, meaning he is free to focus on his white-ball skills, and he signed off from T20 Blast regular season with a brilliant 98 not out for Hampshire against Sussex just a few weeks ago.

With the likes of Jason Roy and Laurie Evans in this Brave batting unit, Vince finds himself as the key man among some big names that while still dangerous, might not be as consistent as in years gone by.

There are no such fears about Vince who top scored for Brave in six of their 10 matches last season, suggesting he is a good bet at 11/4 to repeat the dose when they begin their latest campaign on at 6.30pm, UK time.

Old Trafford has proved a very good place to bat across formats all summer, so both teams to score 160+ runs at 5/2 with Sky Bet was given some consideration, especially when you look at a home batting line-up featuring Jos Buttler, Phil Salt and Heinrich Klaasen.

In fact, Brave might be the ones who struggle to keep pace, given their reliance on Vince, and I’m happy to go solo with their captain on this occasion.

Preview published at 1010 BST on 6/08/25

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